Washington state lawmaker calls Arizona 'racist wasteland'

A Washington state lawmaker took to Twitter on Sunday following a 17-10 loss by his beloved Seattle Seahawks to the Arizona Cardinals, ending Seattle’s 14-game home winning streak.

“Losing a football game sucks,” Democratic Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon wrote in a now-deleted message. “Losing to a desert racist wasteland sucks a lot.”

Fitzgibbon, who represents West Seattle, Burien, Vashon Island and White Center, removed the message a short time later and said he “shouldn’t have conflated” the two topics.

“Upset re hawks loss, and failure of smart immigration reform--shouldn't have conflated the 2 though,” he wrote. “Happy holidays, better for both in '14.”

Fitzgibbon, who was first elected in 2010 and didn't face any opposition when he ran for re-election last year, told The Associated Press that people were taking his trash talk a little too seriously.

"If folks are going to take that too seriously, then I'm sorry about that," Fitzgibbon said.

Fitzgibbon said people in Washington state "have not appreciated" how Arizona has treated immigrants, citing a 2010 immigration law that was subject to a legal challenge from the federal government. Fitzgibbon said Arizona leaders need to look at changing laws that he believes amount to racial profiling.

Washington state Republican Rep. J.T. Wilcox said in his own post on Twitter that Fitzgibbon's message "makes us all look bad."